PROGRESSING INTO 2009
We move forward into the new year with the latest draft
of the script by David Roach, distilling the incredible
story into a tighter, more compelling and historically
accurate tale.
During the research process to thoroughly check every
detail possible of the events, settings and characters
against historical fact, we came across a photograph of
the only Aboriginal tunneller in WW1 - labeled simply as
'unknown'. The only clue was "ear wiggers" scribbled on
the back of the photo, colloquial for tunnellers.
Townsville journalist Isis Symes ran an article in her
Bulletin newspaper spearheading a search for the identity
of the unknown soldier which so far has lead to lots of
enquiries but not EUREKA as yet.
We discovered that service by Aborigines in World War I is
something that few Australians know about - often their
colour prevented them from enlisting, and they often
returned from war with little record of their service or
awards.
Jeremy
and I were invited by the North Queensland Club's Vice
President, Fay Barker to come back up to Townsville again
for a gala dinner Feb 13th, to once again present the
package, the investment and sponsorship possibilities and
consolidate more of the support from the locals who are
keen to see the project go full-steam ahead. Jeremy will
present some snippets from his last feature film LAST
TRAIN TO FREO and discuss this new one with regards to the
cast and character portrayal. I'll show some snippets from
my Western Front Doco I made for History Channel this past
November to set the scene for exploring Australia's
significant involvement on the WESTERN FRONT - five times
bigger than Gallipoli. Five times more Aussie men fought
on the Western Front, the fighting lasted five times
longer, and five times more men were killed. Most
importantly, the story of the ANZACs on the Western Front
is one of victory. Unlike the defeat at Gallipoli, the
Australians on the Western Front helped to win World War
I. And Townsville played a very important role in the war
at that time. Every man or boy from North Australia who
went to war embarked from that city, and still today it is
Australia's largest garrison city.
INSERT PICTURE: DVD COVER WWW1
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